1. Field
This field relates to securing a computer system and the data contained within a computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems in general and International Business Machines (IBM) compatible personal computer systems in particular have attained widespread use for providing computing power to many segments of today's modern society. A personal computer system can usually be defined as a desk top, floor standing, or portable microcomputer that includes a system unit having a system processor and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, a display monitor, a keyboard, one or more diskette drives, a fixed disk storage device and an optional printer. These personal computer systems are information handling systems which are designed primarily to give independent computing power to a single user (or a relatively small group of users in the case of personal computers which serve as computer server systems) and are inexpensively priced for purchase by individuals or small businesses. A personal computer system may also include one or a plurality of I/O devices (i.e. peripheral devices) which are coupled to the system processor and which perform specialized functions. Examples of I/O devices include modems, sound and video devices or specialized communication devices. Non-volatile storage devices such as hard disks, CD-ROM drives and magneto-optical drives provide mass storage of data for the computer system.
Computer systems pose several security challenges to organizations that may need to store sensitive enterprise information. Employees often travel with personal laptop, or notebook, computers that store sensitive information about the organization. This sensitive information can range from strategic marketing plans to detailed proprietary designs. Employees often perform work away from the organization's physical location and may work from a home office, an airplane, or an automobile. This is especially true of marketing representatives who are away from the organization. The computer systems these employees use are at greater risk when the employee is away from the physical security provided by the organization. For example, someone could break into the employee's home and steal or use the employee's computer system. This computer system may also allow the user to dial into the company's main computer system, such as a mainframe or server, putting the data on the main computer at risk as well.
Current methods of protecting computer systems and the data that is stored on such systems pose challenges for organizations. A password may be used to prevent someone from accessing the computer system. This password is usually entered from a keyboard by a user in response to a logon screen that appears when the computer is turned on or rebooted. In some systems the password is maintained by the system's “Basic Input-Output System,” or “BIOS.” The BIOS information, including the password, is often not stored on the system's hard drive, rather it is often stored on a nonvolatile memory area so that the information is not lost if the hard drive fails or is replaced. In some systems, the BIOS is maintained by a separate battery that supplies a small amount of power to the memory so that the memory is retained. In these systems, it may be possible to erase the password by simply removing the battery from the system for a certain amount of time. In systems where the BIOS password is not susceptible to being erased by removing the system battery, a challenge still exists in that the password is limited to a few keystrokes.
The user of the computer system, who typically is the person to change the password, often keeps the password relatively simple in terms of both length and format. Passwords are commonly names of family members or other common words that the user will easily remember and are easily entered from the keyboard. This password security can be breached if the thief watches the user enter the password or has ample time to determine the password. An additional challenge of password protection is the fact that, once away from the physical organization, the organization has little or no means of ensuring that the employees follow security policies (i.e., the frequency of changing passwords, length and format of passwords, etc.) or even ensuring that the employee does not disable the password protection.
It is often the information stored on the nonvolatile storage, i.e., hard drive, of the computer system that is critical or valuable to the organization, and not the physical computer itself. If a thief has targeted a particular computer system because of the data that is stored on the system rather than the value of the computer system itself, the thief may remove and steal the hard drive from the computer system rather than the entire system. Hard drives on many systems, especially notebook computers, are designed to be removable so that a different hard drive can be used with the computer system. These hard drives are often quite small and could be hidden in a pocket. Once the hard drive has been stolen, the drive can be inserted into a separate system that can be used by the thief to read the data.
Some hard drives, for example those using the ATA-3 architecture, store an additional password with the hard drive itself. If a password is set for the hard drive, then the hard drive must be supplied with a matching hard drive password before the drive is accessible. If a hard drive that has its password set is stolen, the thief cannot access the data unless they supply the correct password. The challenges inherent with a hard drive password are consistent with and similar to the challenges posed by password use in general. In addition, once the hard drive is attached to a system, a program could be written that repetitively supplies password entries until the correct password is found.
Various solutions have been employed to prevent the theft or unauthorized access of computer systems that are off-site (i.e., away from the organization's physical security). Alarms that sense the movement of a system act as a deterrent in alerting people that the system is being moved. Challenges associated with alarms in protecting data include the user having to remember to activate the alarm when the system is stationary and deactivate the alarm when the system is being moved. As notebook and other portable computers are often being moved more than they are stationary, using alarms with these types of computers is more challenging than using alarms on stationary systems, such as desktop computers.
Another category of devices that can be used to protect personal computers include devices used to lock the system to prevent unauthorized access to or removal of the equipment. Many of these devices use either adhesive-mounted pads or metal brackets to fasten the computer to a desk or tabletop. These devices are usually manufactured out of hardened steel. Some of these devices use special adhesives and others use bolts. Cables are a common security device and are somewhat more flexible than adhesive systems. Usually, steel cables are passed through metal rings that are attached to the computer system and a desk or table. Although cables prevent someone from quickly taking a computer system, they can be cut with cable cutters and pose a challenge to mobile computer users, especially those who use notebook computers, and need to use their computer system in a plane or automobile.
Other anti-theft devices are card access control products. These products employ magnetic stripe cards, smart cards and key disks to control access to computers. These products allow the organization to control access to individual computers by requiring authorized users to use an access card or KeyDisk (a diskette which acts as a key) to unlock the computer. A challenge of using card access control products is that these devices can be stolen along with the computer. Because the computer does not know the identity of the person using the card access control product, the computer allows access to anyone who has possession of the product. Another challenge of these products is that they give the same access capabilities to any one in control of the particular card access control product. For example, a system administrator may use a card access control product to perform system functions, such as change the computer system password, whereas a common user only needs to use the application programs and view data stored on the computer system. However, if both the system administrator and common user use the same card access control product, both will be able to change the system password, even if the organizational policy dictates that only system administrators should change the password.
Another theft prevention device employed to prevent access to a computer system is a biometric control device which reads biometric data, such as a fingerprint, and only allows access to users whose biometric data has been stored in the computer system. This system presents a challenge in recording biometric data for all authorized users for every computer system. In the case of a large organization with selected system administrators responsible for maintaining a large quantity of systems, keeping track and updating the authorized users is a challenging task. In addition, the biometric data permanently stays with users who were authorized at one time even after they have left the organization or are otherwise no longer authorized to access the computer system. Without regularly updating the biometric parameters for all systems, it is a challenge of biometric systems of keeping former authorized users from accessing the computer systems and the data therein. Another challenge is that biometric software is often complex and is stored on the hard drive of the computer that is intended to be protected. In this respect, the hard disk containing the sensitive data is accessible before the biometric input is received. While very sensitive data may be encrypted so that only users with authorized biometric data are allowed to read the data, anyone can access the hard drive. A further challenge of biometric systems is that data may be lost if the authorized person dies or leaves the organization. Unless multiple sets of authorized biometric data have been stored for all data employing biometric protection, once the authorized individual is no longer available then no one can access the data.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a way of preventing access to a computer system and the data contained therein regardless of the location of the computer and with limited exposure of theft or data inaccessibility due to the theft of an access card or unavailability of a particular authorized user, and ensuring that security policies are enforced for a computer system even if the computer system is removed from the physical organization.